Room 21 Newsletter: March 17, 2006

CLASS NEWS

It has been another busy week in room 21. To begin there was an uproar over the Stamp Act in Millbury (our Storyline town), which lead the King to send in troops and the citizens to rise up in open rebellion. The ensuing Battle of Millbury ended with the British abandoning the town. Now the citizens must join with the rest of the colonies who are now free of British rule to decide how they will govern their communities.

This was our third week of Visual Arts with Metro Arts. The students have painted and worked with cut paper, yesterday they made monochromatic collages. Today we made clay masks with our reading buddies. The masks will get fired and eventually glazed after Spring Break.

Next week we’ll try to wrap up our math unit on fractions, decimals, and percents. Students should also finish their novels and Literature Journals for the books we’re reading at school. It is OK to take the books home as long as they remember to bring them back to school to read and discuss here.

THEATRE REVIEW

Last week the class went to see a play of “The Giver” here is a,

Review of “The Giver” By Lorene Butler and Mona Law

Q. How did they make everything colorless?
A. Lorene: They did really well by just making a gray set and using colored lights when Jonas “sees beyond”. The effect was awesome!

Q. How did they capture the feeling of the book?
A. Mona: I thought they captured it amazingly, there was a feeling of question, like in the book, and a lot of the dialogue was the same.

Q. What did you think of the play, comparing it to the book? Was the acting good?
A. Lorene: The play was just amazing! The acting was almost perfect, and they just told the story really well. I was sucked in, and I practically never like a movie or play as well as the book! Plus, the dialogue was almost word for word in most places, and as a self-proclaimed nitpicker, that really pleased me.

Q. What is your overall rating of the play?
A. Mona: I would rate this play 4 stars out of 5, which is saying a lot because the book is really good.
A. Lorene: I’d give it 4-4 1/2 out of 5, which is really good because this book was a hard one to make into a play. Half the time the main character is just thinking! I also liked the special effects they used on the memory-giving bits. Those must have been hard!

AUCTION

Last Saturday’s CSS Auction was a lot of fun AND raised some good money. I’d just like to send out a HUGE thank you to all the folks who helped out! Special mention to Kimberly for the fabulous quilt, Carolee for the bountiful basket, all the parents who made contributions for and purchases at the auction, and Joni for, well putting it together!